Battling gymnast Behan rewarded with Olympic spot

Ireland's Kieran Behan competed in Thursday's floor final here at the Olympic test event knowing he had already overcome the odds to seal a place at the 2012 London Games. Wednesday saw the 22-year-old achieve his dream of Olympic qualification, a feat all the more remarkable in his case after twice being told he may never walk again. Behan, who won a World Cup floor title last year, has overcome an extraordinary run of injuries -- several before he was a teenager. Aged 10 he was in a wheelchair after complications in removing a non-cancerous tumour from his leg and 15 months later a freak training accident left him with a form of brain damage. Then, as a 12-year-old, he hit his head on the back of the high bar, damaging his inner ear and leading him to black out in the event of sudden movement. That led to a three-year break from gymnastics training as he taught himself how to sit and move his head. Yet he eventually returned to gymnastics, only to rupture anterior cruciate ligaments in both knees in separate incidents that kept him out of action until the end of 2010. However, Behan, based in Surrey, south-east England, has still managed to become only the second Irishman to qualify for an Olympics after Barry McDonald competed at the 1996 Games in Atlanta as a wildcard. "To think years and years ago I was told: 'You're never going to be able to walk again let alone do gymnastics', to find out I'm going to the Olympic Games is something that dreams are made of," said Behan, who qualified for an individual Olympic spot by finishing 34th in the all-around test event. "To come from all that, and everything that's happened with injuries, I've got the luck of the Irish on my side most definitely. "I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for my friends and family and coaches and everyone who has stuck around and been there supporting me." Simon Gale, Behan's coach for the past three-and-a-half-years, said the Irishman's Olympic qualification had been the highpoint of his career in the sport. "When he won the gold medal (in the World Cup series) that was pretty special but this is the highlight of my career," Gale said. "We both got really emotional."